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Even after two decades writing about the personal finance aspects of housing, Elizabeth Razzi finds there’s always more to talk about. Buying and selling, improving, insuring, squabbling with the homeowners association -- whatever the housing topic, let this be your virtual back fence.

Local Address Archive: The economy

Owner-occupied housing carries significant tax breaks. There's the mortgage interest deduction plus the ability to shelter up to half a million dollars in home-sale profit from capital gains tax. Is it too much? Just right? Not enough?

Interest rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 4.57 percent this week, Freddie Mac reported this morning. That's down just a hundredth of a percentage point from last week's rate, but it marks the third consecutive week of record-setting lows for the most popular type of home loan. Freddie Mac has been tracking this rate for 39 years.

How low can they go? Freddie Mac reported this morning that average rates on a 30-year fixed mortgage sank to 4.58 percent, blowing past last week's record low of 4.69 percent by 11 basis points. Meanwhile, news just out from the National Association of Realtors is hardly encouraging. Pending home sales, based on homes going under contract in May, fell 30 percent from April and were 15.9 percent below a year ago.

The House voted Tuesday to give home buyers who want to take advantage of a lucrative federal tax credit three extra months to complete their home purchase. The measure, which passed 409 to 5, is now headed to the Senate.